The Conference of Customs General Director in Asia Pacific region of WCO 24th

Deputy Director General of Vietnam Customs Nguyen Van Tho meets WCO’s representative

This is the Conference of Customs General Director held annually in the member country that holds the position of Vice Chairman of the region. The Conference was run by Mr Michael Outram, General Director of Australian Customs, with the participation of the General Director of Customs of countries in the Asia Pacific region, General Secretary of WCO, Regional Intelligence Office (RILO A /P) and regional capacity building office (ROCB A/P).

At the Conference, the Customs leaders of countries in the region heard and commented on the issues raised in the Australian Customs reports as the region's Vice President about the results. Since the regional contact meeting in November 2023, the report of ROCB A/P and Rilo A/P, the group's report on cooperation with the private sector, the assessment report of implementing the regional strategic plan, reporting on the financial contribution of the region, reporting the project results of the region on scrap control, etc.

The scene of the Conference of Customs General Director in the Asia Pacific held by the World Customs Organization (WCO) 24th in Perth, Australia. Photo: Nha Trang

The Conference recorded and welcomed the Australian Customs initiatives as a vice president of the region, including activities to promote cooperation with the private sector in ensuring supply chain security. The Conference also acknowledged and appreciated the members' active contributions to the region's common activities. The Conference listened to the presentation and sharing of experiences of the Customs of the countries about the control campaigns of the region, container control programs, plans to facilitate trade, and smart customs.

Customs representatives of countries attended the 24th WCO conference of Asia -the Pacific Customs Director General in Perth, Australia. Photo: Nha Trang

In particular, the Vietnam Customs Union has presented the plan to implement the Mekong Dragon Campaign for phase 5 from April to November 2023. The Mekong Dragon Campaign is a control campaign against illegal anti-trading and transportation of drugs, precursors and wildlife species of the Cites Convention. The campaign was operated by Vietnam Customs, China, Rilo A/P and the United Nations Drug Prevention and Control Agency (UNODC), coordinated with the participation of members in the region. Over 4 stages of implementation, the Mekong Dragon Campaign has achieved many outstanding results and is agreed by the members to continue to expand to phase 5 with a wider scope and audience.

At the Conference, the Customs General Directors of the region approved the list of members representing the area to join many WCO committees; At the same time, approving the Australian Customs Dog Center, Hong Kong Customs (China) and Indonesian Customs became a regional sniffer dog centre.

The Conference also agreed to support Hong Kong Customs to become Vice President of the region for the period 2024-2026.

On the sidelines of the Conference, Deputy Director General of Vietnam Customs Nguyen Van Tho connected with General Secretary WCO Dr Kunio Mikuriya. Photo: Nha Trang

At the Conference, Vietnam Customs also introduced WCO's 2023 Conference and Technology Exhibition to be hosted by Vietnam Customs, held in Hanoi and Vietnam in October 2023. Thereby, Vietnam Customs invited the General Director and Customs colleagues in the region to come to Vietnam to attend the Conference.

In addition, the delegation of Vietnam Customs also contacted bilaterally with the General Director of Australian Customs, Director of RILO A/P, and Director of ROCB A/P and had a bilateral meeting with the General Director of Customs Hong Kong to discuss the plan of cooperation among customs offices of 2 countries in the coming time.